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RE: Changes to browser response after Hyloti.Y removal by AVG.

I have been told to post these things here in this forum.

Let’s start with the problem.

I have a Dimension 5150 running Xp Home Sp 3, with 2 gigs of ram. I bought it new on ebay in 2004. On the whole, it has been a good, not great machine. My previous machine had only a 7-hundred something speed processor, so when I bought this 3.0 mhz machine, I was expecting a HUGE increase in performance. To be honest, I found myself somewhat disappointed. My ISP is a Verizon 1.5 meg DSL line. Yes, it was better, but not up to the hype of the new family of processors.

With the pleasantries over, here is the deal. A few weeks ago, I picked up a Hyloti.Y infection, which AVG told me about during a daily scan, and which I removed.

Since that experience, I have had a curious problem, with both my DSL and using my Blackberry on a tether, and also using both IE and Firefox. After an initial bootup, I can open a browser and everything is great. If I am on a forum webpage, for example, and I click on a link to a post, the page will immediately start the loading process, and stop dead, right there, with perhaps one or two green squares on the progress bar at the bottom of the page. Sometimes a return to the post link and repeated clicking helps, sometimes just repeatedly refreshing the page helps. Sometimes, 99% of the page is loaded, but some things have still not loaded, and the progress bar shows all green squares. After a day or so of this, I knew I was in deep stuff.

I started by googling a few phrases like “pages need refresh to load” and similar things. I found some info, such as how to scan and repair the dll files using the cmd prompt, and rebuilding the winsock catalog. I’m not an IT pro, but I was writing in Fortran in 1968.

Today, I was installing a autodial temp alarm in a server room, and asked the supervisor what he would do in this circumstance. He said I should just blow off the time spent and go for the reformat, which is the same thing my local geek at Best Buy had told me on Sunday.

Now, the BB guy said I could just call Dell and get a disc for the machine for $25. Somehow, the price has doubled, so it may be back to ebay to get a disc at a more reasonable price for a six year old machine. I gave all my info twice, to two different people, and then I was supposed to be forwarded to tech support, and the system told me they couldn’t connect me and it dropped my call. Oh, the callback number I gave them? No call. Very nice. More American jobs gone overseas.

Of course, my Mac friends are having a good time at my expense. Yeah, I know, this never happens with a Mac. Yadda, yadda.

I found Majorgeeks in one of my Google searches, and the thread was the Malware thread. I read and performed all of the steps, except Combofix would not download. I also ran hyjackthis to see what was running. I found nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. I didn’t post logs in the forum because I was without the combofix log, and I realize some folks can have a bit of an attitude when you don’t follow all their steps to the letter.

The bottom line: if your machine was doing this, would your time be best spent taking some further action that I have not described (or found in my searches) or would you just back up everything, get the CD, and reformat the drive?

Because of aps on the drive (like Office, for which I don’t have the discs) I’d really like to avoid having to wipe and reinstall, and have to pay even more money for the Office discs, so I don’t lose my email files. It’s a shame that Open Office has not come out with an Outlook-compatible product.

So, gurus of MajorGeeks, how can I fix this? All helpful advice is welcome.

Others in the original thread asked some questions. Here are my posts giving addition or redundant info:

So, as you see from the first part of the post, Combofix failed to download. I can post other results, if you like, including Hyjackthis.

 

Good news.

I was finally able to download and run Combofix.

I am attaching my first logs.

 

And more logs...

 

Did you note that I ran Combofix and posted the log, or did I do something wrong?

 

Probably because I'm following a direction without any understanding of the approach.

I attempted to delete the two files you mentioned, and in each case, one file in that folder could not be deleted, saying that it was in use, with a leading tilde (~).

I am attaching the combofix log file after running it the way you described, with a drag and drop code in a text file.

I had trouble loading this page from the favorites menu, just as I have been.

.

 

I just ran the file you specified, and I am attaching the zip.

 

The problem I am having sounds very much like the one in this thread:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1465871#poststop

 

Okay.

After I ran the scans, my impression of the problem was that it still lingered. So, I followed the advice in the previous post and cleaned up the various tools, deleting where required, and then I followed the link about recommendations. On that page, there was mention of AVG being a "bloated" program that slows machines down markedly. Since I was already a PC Tools user (Registry Mechanic) I opted for uninstalling AVG and switching to the free antivirus PC Tools product.

Now, I can't say if it was the various tools I used to clean and scan my machine, or the deletion of AVG, or the cumulative effect of all of these actions, but after switching to the new AV program, tThe page loads are MUCH faster, and I have yet to need a refresh or an extra click.

So, although this was a somewhat frustrating process, in the end, I have to say it was worth the time and trouble of all the reading, loading scanning, cleaning, deleting and posting.

Thank you!!!